Book Review: Debra Austin’s the Legal Brain: A Lawyer’s Guide to Well-Being and Better Job Performance

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

The Legal Brain: A Lawyer’s Guide to Well-Being and Better Job Performance. By Debra S. Austin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024. x, 257 p. Includes bibliographic references and index. ISBN 9781009484602 (hardcover) $102.95; ISBN 9781009484565 (softcover) $33.95; ISBN 9781009484558 (eBook) US$29.99.

Reviewed by Leslie Taylor
Research and Instruction Librarian
Lederman Law Library
Queen’s University

It is no secret that lawyers and law students suffer from chronic stress and high rates of depression and substance abuse. Law societies and bar associations in the United States, Canada, and internationally have published high- profile reports documenting the well-being crisis in the legal profession. But what can lawyers and legal organizations do to address the problem?

The Legal Brain: A Lawyer’s Guide to Well-Being and Better Job Performance by Debra S. Austin provides an approach to supporting and enhancing lawyer well-being that is focused on brain health. Austin, a law professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and a nationally recognized expert in lawyer well-being, is well qualified to offer such guidance. While there has been a proliferation of self-help books written on the topic of lawyers’ mental health and well-being in recent years, what makes Austin’s book stand out is the way in which she grounds her approach in concrete neuroscience research, offering evidence-based strategies that appeal to lawyers’ analytical nature.

According to Austin, a “neuro-intelligent lawyer” is one who understands their “predominant lawyering asset—the brain—and how healthy habits can empower it” (p. 237). Austin argues that lawyers need to cultivate neuro-intelligence to understand why lawyering culture can cause harm and how to effectively counter it. Within law school, she points to the intense competition, zero-sum grading curve, and class ranking systems as the crucible in which the deterioration of well-being begins. Next, she looks at law firm culture, which often commodifies intensive legal practice, privileges profits above everything else, and enforces strict social hierarchies. The chronic stress present in both environments compromises lawyers’ cognitive abilities, undermining the very tool—the brain—that lawyers need to be successful in their work.

To equip lawyers with the neuro-intelligence needed to thrive in these environments, Austin provides an overview of how memory, learning, motivation, and habit-building work. Next, she discusses how stress, substance abuse, and other forms of self-medication damage the brain’s functioning. Finally, she describes activities that can heal impaired brains and improve brain health, including exercise, sleep, and respite. In the chapter “Enhancing Mental Strength,” Austin covers research-based practices that lawyers can use to improve their relationship to stress, self-regulation, and self-improvement. She also provides a useful template for lawyers to make a personal well-being action plan focused on the areas that they may need to work on the most: stress management, self-medication, nutrition, brain health, and mental health.

However, Austin does not place the responsibility solely on individual lawyers to deal with their own suffering and stress. She also rightly places the responsibility on legal organizations to better support lawyer well-being. Legal leaders who wish to transform their organizational culture can help this process by using the checklist of questions found in the chapter for legal organizations. Austin concludes the book with a tantalizing vision of leaders who pursue cultural change, not only in their own organizations, but who lead a transformation toward a greater well-being throughout all of society.

Overall, Austin’s focus on neuroscience makes a compelling argument for why the current culture of lawyering and law schools is unsustainable. Not only does it make people feel bad, but this culture also damages their cognitive abilities and affects job performance. Austin’s provision of concrete, science-based strategies for countering the effects of this culture are more helpful than most typical self-help guides on managing stress. While her explanations may be somewhat technical at times, readers can skim these sections and still grasp why they are important. Whether reading the entire book or just selections, an interested lawyer can learn something new and fascinating about their brain health and well-being. The text includes comprehensive footnotes, a detailed index, and practical templates that make it a valuable reference tool for both individual lawyers and legal organizations.

The Legal Brain would make an excellent addition to any law library collection. I would also recommend it for the personal collections of lawyers looking to better understand the connection between their brain health, job performance, and personal well-being. Additionally, leaders who wish to improve the health and well-being of the lawyers in their organizations will find practical guidance for implementing meaningful cultural change.